Prologue to the Rule (paragraph 7)
We must, therefore, prepare out hearts and bodies to serve him under the guidance of holy obedience. (From para. 7 of the Prologue to Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)
I learn the importance of keeping my body fit to serve, as well as my body's significance in learning compassion through suffering.
There are three parts to this reading for me. The first is my asking, 'how shall I live, Lord?' The second is hearing the Lord's "instruction". The third is my loving response in "holy obedience". For me, there is often a disconnect between the second and third parts and that is where "the battle" exists. There is only one resolution and that is to be open to the Holy Spirit through the daily meditation, and through the daily reading of the Scriptures. The rest is up to the Holy Spirit. "You,yourself, do nothing, you simply allow Him to work in your soul"(Silence and Stillness, May 4). The solution- get my ego's need to control out of the way.
ReplyDeleteMy ego is alive and well and resurgent. It hates my mantra and my meditation and assails me with a thousand distractions. Meditation is, indeed, for me, a twice-daily “battle” with thoughts and images and my egos’s “priorities”. Abba, have mercy on me. Grant me fidelity and patience.
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